Electric railway.



PATENTED DEC. 15, 1903.

M. HOOPES. ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 29. 1903.

N0 MODEL.

Patented December 15, 1903.

ATIENT @rrrcn.

MAURICE HOOPES, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

ELECTRIC RAILWAY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 7&73177, dated December 15, 190 3.

Application filed April 29, 1903.

To 00% whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MAURICE HOOPES, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of New York, in the borough of Manhattan and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Electric Railways, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to a means for operating third-rail electric-railway systems during the prevalence of sleet or ice upon the third rail, the object being to provide for obraining contact between the collecting-shoe and the conducting-rail to a sufficient extent to operate the cars without attempting to remove the ice or sleet entirely from the rail.

The third rail as ordinarily constructed is provided with a flat surface of considerable area, upon which the collecting-shoe drags, and many attempts have been made heretofore to remove the ice from this entire contact-surface of the rail. Such a problem is very difficult and, so far as known tome, has not yet been solved in a practicable manner. Instead of attempting to remove the ice from the extended flat contact-surface I propose to remove it from an angle, ridge, or other restricted area which maybe especially shaped for the purpose or found on existing forms of third rails, thus exposing a sufficient surface of the rail for contact with a collecting device to deliver thepropelling-current to the cars and trains for short periods during which the ice is present upon the rail. It being a comparatively simple matter to remove/the ice from a corner, ridge, or angle, the adaptability of the invention is at once apparent.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 indicates a section of a third rail and a side elevation of one form of collecting device that may be used in connection therewith. Figs. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 illustrate various cross-sections of third rails which may be utilized in carrying out my invention. Fig. 8 is a section of a third rail of ordinary form and an ice-removing and current-collecting device for use in connection therewith. Fig. 9 is a side elevation of a third rail, showing the relative positions of ice-removing and ourrent-collecting devices thereon; and Fig. 10 is a perspective View of a T-rail of ordinary form and the relative positions of ice break- .very simple devices may be used.

$erial1lo- 154,778. (No model.)

ing, scraping, and current-collecting devices thereon.

My invention comprehends first of all the provision of a third rail having a longitudinal ridge bounding or adjacent to the regular con tact-surface. third rail illustrated the regular contact-surface used under normal conditions is indicated by ct and the ridge which is used during the prevalence of ice on the rail is indicated by I). Where a third rail of the usual shape is adopted-such, forinstance,as shown in Fig. 8-the ridge or angle at the upper outer corners of the rail will be used when the ice exists. To remove ice from the ridge or ridges, A scraping-bladehavingastraightedge,such as shown at c in Figs. 4 and 9, may be carried by the car and pressed against the ridge by the car as it moves along. This will easily break and remove the ice' from the ridge, exposing the same sufficiently to enable a fiat shoe, such as shown at d in Figs. 3 and 9, to. make contact therewith The shoe d may be the regular collecting-shoe of the vehicle, which is temporarily shifted from its position against the fiat surface of the railas, for instance, at e, Fig. 9-to the position shown at d, or an auxiliary shoe may be carried by the car and thrown into position to engage the ridge at the same time the scraper c is put to work. Where a third rail of the shape shown in Fig. 8 is used, the ice may be removed from the outer corners b b by two blades similar to c or by a roller f, having a grooved rim which straddles the rail and bears only upon the corners. The weight of the roller or pressure applied to it will break the ice from the corners, and the roller itself, if of conducting material, may take the current from the rail, or a scraper may immediately follow it, as at 0, Fig. 10, and this followed by the collector p. In Fig. 1 I have illustrated a preferred form of rail and collecting device to be used in connection therewith. The rail has a central ridge formed by two oppositely-inclined flat surfaces at at, either of which may be used as the ordinary contact-surface. For a collecting device I use a plate g, connected to a portion of the car (indicated byh) through a parallel-ruler The links are pivotarrangement of links 2'.

In the various forms of ally connected'with the plate and with the extremities of a lever c", which is pivoted at its middle point to the support. By swinging the lever t" on its center the angular position of the plate can be changed. In the position shown in full lines the plate is in contact with one-of the inclined contact-surfaces a, which is the normal working position. By shifting the lever 71 the plate can'be lifted to the horizontal position, (indicated in dotted lines,) where it makes contact only with the ridge 1). Any suitable device for retaining the plate in the horizontal position can be adopted, the latchj, carrying a pin resting in a notch j, being shown as one possible way. A scraper or ice breaker and remover of any character would precede this collecting device to remove the ice from the ridge, and thus permit the plate to make contact with that portion of the rail.

The small area of contact-surface afforded by the ridge will of course cause rapid wear of the collecting-shoes; but as ice seldom remains on the rail for any considerable length of time the amount of wear is not great, and such wear as occurs is amply compensated for by the advantage of being able tomove the cars at all.

The location of the ridge on the rail is not of special importance so long as it can be conveniently used when occasion arises, nor is the exact shape of the ridge of greatimportance so long as it presents a surface from which the ice can be easily broken. In Fig. 5 the rail is shown circular in cross'section, the understanding being that an extended portion of the cylindrical surface is ordinarily used for collecting purposes and that only a line along the upper side is used when the main surface is covered 'with ice. The rounded ridge of Fig. 6 would afford a good working surface. Fig. 7 shows a rail with a series of grooves and ridges. The ice can easily be broken from the ridges and contact with all of them effected by a flat shoe. The grooves between the ridges might be kept filled with grease, upon which ice does not readily form, while the small quantity of ice then collecting on the ridges could be easily removed.

Having described my invention, I claim 1. In electric railways, a third rail or conductor having a broad contact-surface for normal use and a longitudinal ridge, in combination with means for removing ice from the ridge and means for making exclusive contact with the exposed ridge, for the purpose set forth.

2. In an electric railway, a third rail or conductor having a ridge extending longitudinally thereof, a device carried by the car for removing ice from the ridge and means carried by the car for collecting current exclusively from the exposed ridge, substantially as described.

3. In an electric railway, the combination of a third rail or conductor having a broad contacting surface for a collecting device and a restricted contacting surface in addition thereto, in combination with means for removing ice from the restricted contact-surface and a collecting device adapted to engage exclusively With said restricted surface, substantially as described.

4. In an electric railway, the combination of a third rail or conductor provided with a broad contacting surface and a ridge or cor ner extending longitudinally, in combination with a collecting device carried by the car and adapted to engage either with the broad surface or exclusively with the ridge or corner, for the purpose set forth.

5. In an electric railway, the combination of a third rail or conductor provided with a broad contacting surface and a ridge or corner extending longitudinally, in combination with a collecting device carried by the car and adapted to engage either with the broad surface or exclusively with the ridge or corner and means for removing ice from the ridge or corner, for the purpose set forth.

6. In an electric railway, the combination of a third rail or conductor having a broad inclined contact-surface and a longitudinal ridge, in combination with a contact-shoe carried by the vehicle and a system of levers connecting the shoe with the car whereby the angular position of the shoe can be changed.

In witness whereof I subscribe my signature in presence of two witnesses.

MAURICE HOOPES.

Witnesses:

FRANK S. OBER, WALDO M. CHAPIN. 

